One thing that I must share is that within the Beaumont Zone this week there were 6 converts baptized! I had the opportunity to interview one of them, Rafael.

His story is that after High School he went to a Christian Seminary for 2 years, but got a little disinterested so he left the seminary and started working. But after a couple more years he went back to seminary, a different one this time, but a semester before he got his certificate he left again. He still believed in God but distanced himself from any particular group. A couple months ago, in a tiny town called Winnie, TX he walked into his cousin's house to find 2 young, Mormon, sister missionaries. He thought he would have fun by asking difficult questions that nobody could answer at the seminaries he went to, or all the pastors he worked with during those years. They had answers for all of them. Two 19 year old ladies. Over the next couple months he read the Book of Mormon, prayed to Heavenly Father in the name of Christ, and received an answer that all the answers these two sister missionaries gave him were true. He told me this story (as a 40 year old "big tough guy") with tears in his eyes. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve as a missionary!

Another big thing, Giovanni (an investigator in the Lake Houston YSA Branch) got baptized. Elder Ericson and I were the first ones to teach him after his best friend brought him to church. He's also only 19 years old and very possibly could go on a mission. His best friend, Tony, is working on his paperwork.

I love y'all! But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

2 more exchanges which I loved with Elder Larsen & Elder Martinez, then Elder Rasband and Elder Souza in Fred!

Fred was fantastic! Tiny town with a bunch of dirt roads, large cows, and super friendly people!

I also got to see Elder Lee. He is in Jasper right now. He made this spicy Asian chicken stuff after District Meeting. SOOOOOO GOOD!

Being in the YSA, and it being summer, there's a lot of door to door security system salesman from Utah down here. They fed us dinner yesterday and Elder Chamberlin and I got some good laughs from talking about mission stories with them since they're all return missionaries.

One of our investigators, Travis, came to church this week! He's a little slow but he's making great progress!

I love being a missionary! I love this area! I love my mission, THE Mission!

I love y'all! But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

Monday we had p-day down in Port Arthur, then drove to Houston and slept in the Atascocita elders' apartment.

Tuesday we had Mission Leadership Council. We learned so much good stuff about working with the members who permanently live here. Also about the role of the Holy Ghost.

Wednesday we met with the Sister Training Leaders and planned Zone Meeting, we had such a good idea involving super heroes! Then a member of our branch, Ian, drove us to Jasper so we could conduct a baptism interview. The man's name was Ed, and I got to interview him. He's read the Book of Mormon cover to cover since December and I asked about why he wanted to be baptized and he said, "Well, everything in the Book of Mormon supports the Bible in every way, so it can't be evil." He went on to explain that since he knows the Book of Mormon is true he knows that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church.

Thursday we planned out next week and planned more for Zone Meeting.

Friday we had zone meeting. After the normal opening stuff we had a skit, with the super heroes! Elder Chamberlin was Superman, Elder Bond (one of the assistants) was playing himself, and I was Batman. We all complained, and blamed, and made excuses, and justified our mistakes, trying to prove a point. We learned that we fought for 100% agency in the pre-existence, and with that comes 100% responsibility. If we do things to try to avoid responsibility, then we also avoid agency and we give up control of situations. We taught that we never hear super heroes trying to avoid responsibility. So we shouldn't try either.

Saturday we went up to Woodville and blitzed their area. We had a lot of success! In the morning we got to corral some pigs into a trailer, I never realized how loud they squeal... Also, Woodville has hills! Beautiful, rolling, big hills!

I love being a missionary!

I love y'all. But I love Jesus Christ more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.

I was transferred on Monday to the Beaumont YSA!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy. I sorta secretly wanted to come here because I didn't want to make the transition going back to a family ward missionary, and because I have served in all the other zones in the mission and I wanted to be able to get to the Beaumont Zone. Tender mercies of the Lord!!! I love the Beaumont YSA! It's held in an institute building across the street from Lamar University. It's much smaller (in population) than the Lake Houston YSA but that's ok, that's why we missionaries are here.

My new companion is Elder Chamberlin. He came out 1 transfer after me. He's so real and genuine. We've laughed a lot this week and have gotten a lot of work done.

One miracle we saw was our branch mission leader called one of our investigators and asked him to sign up on the meal calendar. The investigator accepted, and signed up for Thursday, but then he went on a trip to Dallas. We told him not to worry about it but then he told us to go to a certain Subway at 5:00 on Thursday and he'd "magically" get us fed. We were skeptical, but we went. We had to wait for a while but eventually a girl walked in, pointed at us, and said, "Hey, I'm supposed to feed y'all." She bought us food, then we asked if she would sit down with us for a few minutes to talk. She accepted and we taught her the full Restoration! She had talked with a member of the Church when she was in high school and he bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and she still remembered that. She also recently left her church because she felt some of its teachings went against the teachings in the Bible. But she's looking for a new social group that will help her keep her standards high! We know just the place!

Also, to let Jessica know, I will be going on an exchange with the elders serving in Fred, TX in a couple weeks! I am so excited!

I love y'all! But I love our Savior more. And this is where He wants me. So this is where I want to be.